Kruidkoek (Dutch spiced cake)

Traditionally this recipe has only been given to a daughter-in-law once married to a Schoemaker. I may have been the first exception to this rule! Not ever planning to get married, let alone using the name Schoemaker, my mother-in-law good heartedly passed this recipe onto me early in our relationship. This was the right decision; we have now been married for 26 years with no plans for divorce.

The story goes that if the mother-in-law was not so fond of her daughter-in-law to be, the cake baked by the daughter-in-law, would never turn out really as good as the one from mother-in-law herself. Over time some slight variations to the recipe have occurred. But this is the unadulterated version! The cake is easy to make, and the recipe can easily produce one large cake or two small ones.

Ingredients

500g self raising flour

500g dark brown sugar

1 tbsp koek en speculaaskruiden* (mixed spice can be substituted)

150g candied ginger

400ml of water

1 tbsp butter

Method

Grease cake tin(s) with butter.

Mix together flour, sugar, koek en speculaaskruiden (mixed spice) and ginger into a large mixing bowl.